The other day I bought toilet paper. Now this isn’t usually something to write home about (let alone write a public blog post about).

But I was so impressed with the website copy of this brand that I wanted to share it with you.

How much of your time do you currently spend thinking about toilet paper? I’m guessing it’s probably only around six times a day (depending on your water intake).

When I normally shop for toilet paper, I’m thinking about price, the environmental factor and whether to get the usual 6-pack or bother lugging home a 12-pack (I know, my shopping trips are a thrilling look into a suburban dystopia).

What I’m not thinking about is whether my toilet paper brand of choice gets me excited to be making this purchase.

And have you ever notice how most toilet paper brands dance around the fact that the purpose of toilet paper is to wipe our bums and other bits? Seriously, I did a site search of Kleenex-Cottonelle for the word bottom and found only four results.

So it was refreshing to come across a brand flushing some humour and #truth into the toilet paper business.

Who Gives a Crap is a social enterprise that donates 50% of it’s profits to Wateraid to aid sanitation programs in developing countries.

Which is awesome, obvs. But it’s also an excellent example about how terrific and consistent copy that help you grow a tribe for your brand.

When you first hit the home page you’ll see the primary purpose message loud a clear with the heading “Flush Poverty Down the Loo”.

While the toilet paper looks sexy, is made from 100% recycled content and is good value – Who Gives a Crap’s primary message is one of helping others.

Not only is it part of their business model, it’s also a smart way to stand out from their competitors.

That message continues through the rest of their website content. Most people buy toilet paper from the supermarket, so buying it online (their primary channel to buy at the moment) is a new concept. So they’ve used some space to explain about how that all works – including when you can expect your delivery (very important if you’re about to be caught short!).

The brand voice is fun the whole way through the website – from the homepage through to the FAQs, and even the product names.

And that consistency doesn’t end there.

Rather than just sending out a generic “your order is on its way” confirmation email, they use this to reinforce the social enterprise message.

The whole thing is conversational and memorable – I’m totally hooked on the brand’s underlying purpose. And isn’t that what you want?

When writing your web copy, business owners can get overly focused on what their competitors are saying and doing. The result is a whole bunch of similar-sounding websites and sound oh-so-businessey. How are your visitors going to know what makes you different?

Now We’re On a Roll

If you can identify a unique brand voice – and then carry that through all your content – you’ll be able to grow a community of customers not just interested in what you sell, but connected to your business’ purpose. And the thing is, you don’t have to be changing the world to do this. Any online business can benefit from this method, as long as you are willing to take a risk and do things differently to everyone else.

Well are you?

Tell me what you think of the Who Gives a Crap copy. Are you into their casual, irreverent style? Or do you think toilet paper is serious business? Let me know in the comments, peeps!